


Fading Hope

by ladyoneill



Series: Shadows Of The Moon: Full Moon Ficlets [69]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst, Comatose Stiles Stilinski, M/M, Mating Bond
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-31
Updated: 2014-08-31
Packaged: 2018-02-15 12:03:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2228325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladyoneill/pseuds/ladyoneill
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stiles has been comatose since warding the town and Peter's losing hope.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fading Hope

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the fullmoon ficlet prompt "future" and set three days after "Burn Out".

Peter hasn't slept in three days. He's moved from the bed only when forced to by bodily needs. He hasn't eaten, hasn't shaved or changed clothes or bathed.

For three days he's curled around his comatose mate, murmuring to him and sending love and need through the fragile bond.

The bond broke. He felt it shatter and it nearly destroyed him, but then it came back with Stiles first breath. After that, though--nothing. There's hardly anything there. Stiles is alive but Peter can barely feel him. He's losing faith.

He knows when Melissa enters the room, feels her disapproval through the Pack bond--and that's something they really need to figure out, but for now all he can think about is Stiles--but she doesn't say anything, just moves to Stiles' free side and replaces the nearly depleted bag of saline and nutrients with a fresh one. When she's done, her hand brushes over Stiles' pale cheek and her eyes meet Peter's.

"He's not getting any better," Peter says, voice hoarse from constant use.

"He's alive," is her gentle retort. "He wasn't, so alive is an improvement."

So very near the surface, Peter's wolf whines. "I need him back. This can't go on... _We_ can't go on like this." He buries his face in Stiles' shoulder. "Maybe...maybe it would have been better..."

"Don't you dare continue that sentence, Peter Hale," Melissa snaps, furious. "He will come back."

Eyes blazing up at her, he growls helplessly. "Six years I was in a coma, feeling, hearing everything and unable to move, unable to respond in anyway. If he's suffering like that...No, I can't let..." Lifting his head, he shakes it in denial, and sends a burst of fear laden love down the bond.

There's no response.

The wolf inside him howls in grief.

"If it's six years or sixteen or...or forever, Peter," Melissa chokes. "You have to hold on to him. And you have to take care of yourself. I'm about twenty four hours away from hooking you up to a matching IV. You need to get your ass out of this bed, get cleaned up, eat, and see your children. They are as scared as you are, and Conor especially doesn't understand why you're ignoring him. Do you think Stiles will be happy you're neglecting your kids?"

"I don't think Stiles cares about anything," Peter snaps back, rolling from the bed to pace on trembling legs. "He's barely there, Melissa. All I get from the bond is an acknowledgment that he exists. Even when he's actively blocking me, I get more. I can't...I can't handle this!"

And he breaks down into tears.

He feels Melissa's arms go around him, the warmth of her breast against his face, but all he really knows is that he's losing his mate.

Slowly.

"How can there be a future without him?" he sobs, clinging to the woman who once despised and feared him, who now tries to comfort him.

"The future is in those four children, Peter. Even if Stiles never comes back to us, he lives through them, and they need you." Slowly she extracts herself from him, holds him up with strong hands on his biceps and gives him a slight shake. His tears cease and his spine straightens.

"Will...will someone sit with him? Talk to him? I...I was left alone so much..."

"Of course," she replies gently. "He'll never be alone, I promise." 

Pulling away from her, Peter starts to turn, but then looks back at the still, silent man in their bed. "How can the future be anything but bleak without him?" It's physically painful to leave Stiles' side, but he has to put on a strong front for his cubs, so he makes his way to the bathroom.

Melissa waits until she hears the shower turn on before perching on the bed next to Stiles and taking his hand. His pulse is slow and steady but nothing in three days has made it race. Even without checking she knows his breathing is the same. She checks his blood pressure--low, but not dangerously low--and his temperature which is normal. Lifting an eyelid she gets only autonomic pupillary response.

Sighing, she presses a kiss to his forehead and murmurs, "Kiddo, you need to wake up and sooner rather than later. We're going to lose Peter if you don't. He's barely hanging on." Another kiss and she can't hold back a few tears. "It's not just his future that's bleak without you, Stiles. I know you're in there. He can feel you; he knows you're there, but you need to fight your way back to all of us. For God's sake, don't let the hunters win before the war even begins."

Huffing in annoyance, Melissa wipes away her tears, checks his IV and gives him another kiss, before moving to the chair next to the bed and picking up a book open on the nightstand which she starts to read aloud to him. It's a mystery and she quickly falls into it.

She doesn't notice the slight twitch of fingers on the blanket.

In the shower, Peter feels a slight tremor in the bond and nearly bolts wet and soapy back into the bedroom, but he forces himself to finish bathing, to breathe evenly, to not get his hopes up.

But he can't stop himself from sending everything he can through the mate bond, praying that Stiles responds.

End


End file.
